If You Love Something
by Eike
Summary: Romantica. A few years into their relationship. Misaki moves out; Akihiko isn't happy.


Misaki's first day in his new apartment. Akihiko isn't happy, but has to bite his tongue.

**If You Love Something...**

* * *

The apartment wasn't large, not by any means -- the kitchen was barely big enough for one person to stand in. Still, Misaki stood in it, and quite proudly.

"Can you afford this place?" Akihiko asked, opening one of the boxes in the living room. ZaKan books. Irritated, he kicked the box away and tried a different one.

"Don't worry about me, Usagi-dai-sensei. I may not be rich like you, but this will be well within my salary range."

Akihiko wished it weren't. If it were up to him, Misaki would never have found employment. He sent dark thoughts at Isaka, who had helped Misaki get the job through some connection or other. If it weren't for him -- if it weren't for him, Misaki would have taken a worse job and landed in an even smaller apartment.

"Usagi-san, can you move the boxes to the bedroom? I have to start cooking now if I want the food to be ready by the time Nii-chan, Manami-san, and Mahiro-kun get here."

Akihiko mumbled a quiet "sure" and picked up a random box (not the ZaKan one) to move to the bedroom. At least Misaki had let him buy the bed for him, although he'd insisted he would choose it himself ("If you do it, Usagi-san, it'll end up too big for my apartment!"). Takahiro and Manami had paid for the couch; that annoying Sumi had given Misaki an old bookshelf.

"Usagi-san! Are you coming back?" Misaki called. Akihiko considered dropping the box on purpose, to get banned from helping out, but decided it would only make Misaki angry. Besides, they'd already had their share of fights the past month, ending with Misaki angrily shouting, "Usagi-san, I'm moving out either way! But if you try to stop me, we won't ever see each other again!"

So Akihiko had to swallow his complaints and let Misaki enjoy this day: his first day in his own apartment.

--

Takahiro and his family arrived just as Misaki was finishing up. Akihiko opened the door for them, putting on his best smile.

"Usami-sensei!" Manami exclaimed. "Were you helping Misaki-kun with the move?"

Before he could answer, Misaki called from the kitchen, "more like he wouldn't let me do it myself! I kept telling him I'd be fine..." He came around the kitchen counter, carrying a bowl of salad to the small table in the living room. It served as both a coffee and dining table -- kind of silly, if you asked Akihiko. ("It's pretty normal!" Misaki had explained.)

"Oh, let me help you!" Manami forced her way into the kitchen, despite Misaki's protests. As Akihiko had thought, it was way too crowded, and the two of them bumped elbows more than once.

This left him, Takahiro, and his kid. Mahiro was already trying to sneak behind Takahiro, properly intimidated by Akihiko. He sent the kid a glare -- _that's right, brat, fear me._

"By the way, I don't think I've thanked you yet for looking out for Misaki the way you have. You've been such a good friend to us. If there's any way I can repay you..." Takahiro smiled as he said it and took Akihiko's hand into a firm handshake.

_Convince Misaki he doesn't need to move out to be a real man. Realize how I feel about your brother_ -- but Akihiko just shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I was probably a bigger burden on Misaki than he ever was on me."

Misaki and Manami walked in then, somehow maneuvering three trays of food out of the small kitchen and into the living room. While the two of them set up, Takahiro turned on the TV -- for Mahiro's sake, apparently, since he quickly switched the channel to something animated.

"Look, Mahiro! It's Anpan-man!" The kid's attention immediately shifted to the strange round thing running across the screen. Forgetting about Akihiko, he started shouting encouragements at the TV. Everybody laughed; Akihiko wasn't sure what was so funny.

--

Mahiro sat between Manami and Misaki, and across from Akihiko. They both tried to ignore each other; Mahiro by scooting closer to his mother and Akihiko by bumping his leg against Misaki's. Misaki didn't react more than sending him a glare the first time.

"Look, Mahiro! Misaki-nii-chan made octopus weenies for you!" Manami picked one of the weenies out of Mahiro's soup with her chopsticks. It was indeed something special, because Mahiro giggled and thanked Misaki for it. Akihiko looked at his own soup: octopus weenies. He looked at Manami's soup: normal weenies.

It had been a very long time since Akihiko had felt so immature. He stopped moving his leg under the table.

--

"Thanks for having us!" Manami said. She had Mahiro in her arms -- the boy had fallen fast asleep while watching TV. She winked at Akihiko when she walked out the door. She'd been doing that a lot lately, and he wasn't sure if that meant she knew something or not. He had never really understood Manami.

He stared after her figure walking down the stairs, so he didn't have to watch Takahiro hug Misaki. _They're brothers_, he told himself.

"I'm so proud of you, Misaki. You've really grown up."

"You worry for nothing, Nii-chan! Of course everything was going to be fine!" He was trying to sound annoyed, but Akihiko knew Misaki well enough to recognize veiled affection when he heard it.

"Right. Take care of yourself. You know my number, you know where we live. If you ever need anything, you can always come to us."

Akihiko turned to catch Misaki rolling his eyes. "Nii-chan, nothing is going to happen." Takahiro just took this as an invitation to embrace Misaki again.

"Well, you can always stop by for dinner if you're tired and don't feel like cooking."

"I'll be fine! Just go already, Manami-san and Mahiro are waiting for you."

A soft laugh, the kind that had made Akihiko fall in love with him so many years ago. "Right, I'm going." He slipped into his shoes and made for the door -- then stopped to look at Akihiko.

"Come on, Usagi-san. I parked close to you, we can walk together."

Again Takahiro stood between him and Misaki. Akihiko wasn't sure how to reply; a few years ago, he would have made up an excuse on the spot, but he was no longer sure that was all right. Misaki had grown. Misaki had his own life. Misaki had learned to put his foot down, and it was both amazing and hard to take all at once.

"I--"

"Don't worry about him, Nii-chan. Usagi-san is going to help me clean up, he hasn't done much else."

At least Takahiro took this at face value, although Usagi hadn't known him to ever suspect anything. Another hug and goodbye later, he was gone, and the air in the small apartment was lighter and heavier.

Misaki was already busying himself with cleaning up the living room, taking a rag to the food bits around where Mahiro had been sitting. "Aah, he's growing so fast. Can you remember just a couple of months ago, he could barely talk! Now he's calling me nii-chan and everything!"

This entire evening had just served to let Akihiko know exactly how out of place he was here. Misaki deserved to be with a normal family, didn't he? It wasn't something he had thought about much in the last couple of years. After things with his own family had been resolved -- mostly; he was glad Kaoruko was in England, at least-- he had enjoyed the calmest, happiest time in his life.

Until Misaki graduated. Until Misaki found a job. Until Misaki decided to move out. And wasn't moving out akin to saying, "I don't want to be with you anymore?"

"Oh, Usagi-san, I have something to give you!"

That startled him out of his brooding. He watched as Misaki dashed into the bedroom, thumped around a bit, and ran back out, hand in a fist.

"Hold out your hand."

Akihiko did as told. A small, silver key was dropped into his palm.

"What's this?"

"The spare key, of course! That is..." there, red-tinted ears, a hint of the Misaki he had first met. "Um, obviously I'll be working from eight 'til five at least, and probably half an hour commute with all the traffic, so I won't get home until later, but... If you're here, I'll cook for both of us. So you can still get a balanced diet."

Sometimes, it wasn't fair how Misaki managed to see right through him without even knowing what he was doing. Akihiko's mouth curled into a smile and he pulled Misaki close to him. "Misaki. Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Yes, just yesterday."

He remembered the early days of their relationship, where Misaki would have pushed him away. Now Misaki's arms lifted up to return the embrace, and Akihiko's heart swelled.

"You know, Usagi-san... I've been with you for five years already. I'm not going to leave you any time soon. Moving out isn't the same as breaking up." That was almost whispered, but Misaki's lips were right next to his ear so he heard every word clearly. Temptation couldn't be ignored any longer -- Akihiko pressed kisses to Misaki's face and let his hands wander across Misaki's back.

"Let's break in this new couch of yours, Misaki."

No protest until Misaki's back had hit the sofa. Then, suddenly, he had a palm in his face. "Not here!"

"Why not here?"

"People have to sit here! ... And I have that great big bed to test out instead?"

Laughter spilled out of Akihiko's throat. Misaki was older now, but he was as adorable as ever. "Right, let's go!"

Misaki might deserve somebody better than him, but when Misaki met his mouth halfway, when Misaki pulled him closer, when Misaki's hands roamed across his chest -- Akihiko realized that there was no way he would ever let go of this.

He'd just have to start getting used to tiny apartments a bit more, that was all.

* * *

Notes:  
Coffee/dinner table: although Japanese apartments and houses do occasionally come with separate dining rooms you can put western-style tables in, it's not uncommon for a traditional, low table to be used either.

Anpan-man: A popular kid's anime figure. Anpan is a bun filled with red bean paste, to give you a feel for how silly a premise it is :)


End file.
